plan to avoid the fiscal cliff. this is the opening play by the president. here is house speaker john boehner who says that weeks of talks have gone nowhere. melissa: two weeks ago we had very product testify conversation at the white house but based on where we stand today i would say two things. first, despite the claims that the president supports a, a balanced approach, the democrats have yet to get serious about real spending cuts. and secondly, no substantive progress has been made in the talks between the white house and the house over the last two weeks. bill: the speaker considers that just absolutely wasted time. kentucky democratic congressman john yarmouth out of louisville is a member of the house budget committee, sir, thank you for your time. i want to get your perspective on this. good morning to you. melissa: good morning, bill. bill: republicans are not happy. what would you say to your colleagues there? they're charging none of this addresses the problem and the problem they believe is not taxes,